Tears of Rum
by Asher Elric
Summary: A tail of life, loss, betrayal and revenge. The story of the Sparrow mutiny.
1. Beginning plots

Summary – A tail of life, loss, betrayal and revenge.

**Tears of Rum**

**PART 1 OF MANY**

Twenty one year old Jack Sparrow had only one idea of when his adventure had just started. Even though he sat in the Tortugan pub with absolutely no idea of what he would do nor how he would do it – he knew only one thing – He was an outlaw now.

All right, so that hadn't always been true. He had grown up in London for most of his life, lived with his Nanny, Aunt and Uncle and never knew anything about his parents. Until the ring came his way with a request for him to travel to the Caribbean to live where he belonged.

Of course, his Aunt and Uncle had forbidden it and had taken the items from him; however, Jack Sparrow was a curious bird by nature, and so he had stolen both the letter and the ring and went to find himself a ship.

The ship in question had been the _Wicked Wench_ – she was an Eat India ship, but Jack had fallen in love with her and had somehow procured himself a job on the ship as cabin boy. He had two very good Captains during the four years he had sailed. Captain Johnson had been the first, and then Captain Nemo took over after Johnson had been lost to the ocean.

During that time; Jack had worked his way up the ladder from a mere sailor to Bo' sun and then to second mate. It was when the first mate took ill and the Captain broke his leg that Jack had been able to show what he could really do. He won the loyalty of the men fast and the Captain was very proud of him.

Of course, Jack thought as he took a sip of rum, that was when the whole story went sour. You see, dear reader. Our wonderful Pirate (Captain) had been promoted to Captain of the _Wicked Wench_ after Captain Nemo had retired. Cutler Beckett had done the promotion himself and they had even shook hands and everything. Jack, now at the age of sixteen was the youngest Captain of the East India Trading Company! And he was proud of it.

Till he refused to carry a cargo of slaves, let them free in their home of Africa and sank Beckett's flag ship. He had let himself be taken prisoner and had been branded a pirate. Which was when he had stabbed Beckett in the chest and made his escape.

(What Captain Jack Sparrow does not know is that Beckett survived his attack and has been very sour about the deed ever since)

But there is more to this story; of which cannot be told in detail since Captain Sparrow has a lost treasure to find. What this author shall tell is simply that he had met and made a friend out of William Turner and they had been at sea together for near a year at this moment.

Peaking of which, Bootstrap Bill was returning to their table with another round of grog. Jack took his with a smile while Bill sat down.

"What' eating your thought's tonight, Jack?" Bill asked.

"Nothing important, well, except to get a crew for the pearl," Jack replied. It had been agreed by the two of them that Barbossa (seeing as how the man knew Tortuga better then both Jack and Bill put together) would sign men up to sail the pirate ship with Black sails.

Jack did not mind in the least that his first mate had wanted to do the job. He had tried to explain it to Jack, but Jack got it twisted around and instead of signing up men for a crew, he had accidentally signed men up for a production of 'The Phantom of the Opera' – of which, most of the men had been eunuchs.

"Do you think it was a good idea to let Barbossa do it on his own?" Bill asked. He never did trust Barbossa, not from the beginning when Jack had rescued the man from a deserted island to begin with.

"So, that's what's been botherin' yer pretty head, huh?" Jack said with a wink.

"Jack…"

"Now, now, don't worry about it. He didn't mean to accidentally set the galley on fire!" Jack waved his hand.

"Jack, I know that you don't know much about pirating, in general, however, as your friend. I have an obligation to tell you that pirates don't just go around marooning people who accidentally burnt the rum," Bill said.

"I would!" Jack gave him a glare and held his cup close to his chest. Afraid that Bill might actually do such a nasty thing!

"Jack, Barbossa probably did something terrible, like a mutiny or something of that nature," Bill tried to be very patient. But by nature he wasn't exactly patient himself.

"So? We're after the same thing! It's a win-win deal," Jack replied.

"All right, I'll let you play this game of yours, maybe you'd learn at thing or two that way," Bill rolled his eyes.

"Thank you very much," Jack muttered, and downed the rest of his rum.

It was at that moment that the subject the two men had been talking about showed up at the pub; he wore a red over coat with a large green hat with a large feather in it. He was, in every sense of the word, a pirate Captain. His beard had been combed and he had sprayed some sort of cologne on. Jack hated the cologne and vowed to get rid of it whenever he got the opportune moment.

"Hello gents," Barbossa gave them a smirk as he sat down at the table. A passing waitress plunked a mug in front of him before dashing off. Apparently, she didn't like the smell of the cologne either!

"Find any good men?" Jack asked.

"Aye, they're all ready getting the Pearl ready to sail," Barbossa said. Jack nodded his head, but he did not see the rather knowing looks that passed between Barbossa and Bootstrap Bill.

"Good, good, this time in three days, we'll be on our way," Jack sighed.

"About that, how do ye know the coordinates of the island?" Barbossa asked.

"Why? I shant be tellin' – you'll just have to find out," Jack grinned at Barbossa. Bill rolled his eyes, he knew that Barbossa was a murdering son of a bitch who only wanted the treasure to himself and would do anything to get it. Which meant screw Jack Sparrow over any way he could. Bill only hoped that Jack would keep the direction to himself and not give them away before they made it to the island in question.

Barbossa decided it was time to change the subject; there was no need to let Jack in on his plan. He was drunk half the time anyway, maybe if he got him a bit more to drink, that young man would kindly give up the directions and then Barbossa could kill him and be done with him.

* * *

Later, when Jack was happily sitting in his cabin, drawing out the first set of coordinates, Barbossa was down below in the galley, seething. He sat with Bootstrap who was giving him the "look".

The "Look" was when Bootstrap raised his eyebrow and glowered in just that right way that it made anyone terribly nervous when it was turned their way. (He perfected this look on his son, and so it made the pirates cower in front of him) Barbossa, for his part he was a very particularly brave man, glowered back. However, not as feircly as the father.

"Don't you remember what happened to Long John Silver when he tried something like this?" Bill asked.

"Aye, but Jack is young and impressionable," Barbossa replied.

"Right, and my middle name is "Stupid as a rock"," Bill rolled his eyes.

"I'll get it out of him,"

"Then getting him soaking drunk wasn't enough? He thought for some odd reason that someone was going to burn the rum and stood guard over the rum cellar for three hours. Took me that long to try and knock him out so that I could get him back to his cabin," Bill gave the "Look" once again.

"If he hadn't run off, I would have gotten the coordinates, then we could have killed him and be done with it," Barbossa replied.

"Good luck with that, you don't know Jack like I know him. He holds his licker well for a city brat," Bill replied.

"Brilliant, that's bloody brilliant," Barbossa sat back and frowned like a small child who hadn't gotten any candy after school.

"Maybe I could try and get it," Bill offered.

"You?"

"Aye, me. We're close, but there is only one condition," Bill said.

"What would that be?" Barbossa asked.

"Don't kill Jack, he's young and stupid, just don't kill him," Bill said.

"Your willing to betray a friend, and yet you treat him like your son," Barbossa shook his head.

"I never pretended that Jack wasn't a good friend to me. However, I know that you are going to do this with our without my help. So, I figure it just might be better for Jack if I get the coordinates instead of you or one of your other mates," Bill replied.

"Good thinking on you part, Bill,"

"But it'll have to wait a few weeks," Bill said.

"What?"

"We can't have him thinking that we are against him in the beginning. He has to trust us, and with that trust…I'll be able to get the coordinates from him,"

"All right, two months, but that is all I'm willing to wait,"

"Then we have an accord," Bill said. The two shook hands.

TBC


	2. A move once more

Disclaimer – I forgot to add this in the first chapter. So hum, hum I do not own POTC nor do I own any characters that we see in the movie savvy?

A/N -- I wasn't sure how many parts there were going to be to this fic. But since it is so short and I don't think I can stretch it any more. Onely one more part remains to be written. Thank you!

**Tears of Rum**

**Part 2 of 3**

_Captain_ Jack Sparrow was actually quite good at what he did. He never judged anyone if they were first starting out and he never ever ran his ship like the EITC. Instead, he let there be a sort of laziness to his ship; which his men liked. They could drink all the rum they wanted just as long as they got their work done first.

Jack also lent a hand here and there, he liked his sails a certain way and would go up every three to four hours (depending on how drunk, or just how bored he was) and check that they were still the way he liked them. Sometimes, he would climb to the very top of the tallest mast and just stay there; letting Barbossa and Bill run the ship for him while he let himself think.

This just happened to be one of those times; Jack stood at the very top of the mast. The wind blew his way every which way and he looked quite stunning up there while the sun faded into evening and the men were whistled below for some grub. Which lead him to thinking of certain things that had been going on lately.

They had been at sea for several weeks (five to be exact, but Jack had lost track) and just recently had he took notice of the whisperings before he entered the mess. It was quite disconcerting that no one talked unless they had been spoken too. No one greeted anyone else, except in library voices that people only used when they were in the library. Hence, Jack's perpetual fidgetiness.

Which whispered to him that something fishy might be going on. He wrinkled his nose in distaste and wondered what was really going on. Barbossa didn't seem to be like the sort of person who would screw him over. But, then again, he was a pirate and pirates screwed other pirates over all the time. So, if Barbossa was planning on something, than it was probably a mutiny…and he'd be either a) Shot, or b) Marooned.

It was a funny thing, pirate law – (All right, it couldn't be called law, but even pirates needed order) – In technical terms, it was called _Articles of the Ship_. The Articles were the guidelines set down by the captain that every man must sign in order to sail on the ship. However, the thing that made it different from normal naval ships (which also had articles) was the fact that if the men were not happy with the Captain, they could impeach him and vote on a new Captain for the ship.

The men could also vote on what they would do to the X-captain; of which meant Marooning or some other form of torture. Jack could only hope that if there was indeed a mutiny planned, that they would just shoot him and get it over with. He knew that he was too much of a coward to do it himself.

Finally, Jack sighed and began to climb down from the main topsail. He frowned the whole time and never even glanced at any one who meandered in the rigging. If things were going the way he though that they were going…than every man jack of them were against him because he had let Barbossa be in charge of the signing of the crew.

Of course, Jack did not want to believe the evil that cropped up in his mind.

Yes, they were going after legendary treasure.

Yes, only he had the coordinates to find said legendary treasure.

No, he hadn't told a soul about the coordinates to said legendary treasure.

Now, he was beginning to think that this was a very bad idea.

One look at a group of men sitting on barrels just lazing around; yes, bad idea. Now, all he had to do was figure out how to get himself out of it. He gave the men a grin and a nod before sending them off to do something important; like glossing the bells or something of that sort.

Jack ran into Bill, literally, he and bill both fell to the deck.

"What the heck is biting onto your heels, Jack?" Bill asked.

"…..nothing…?"

"That doesn't sound like nothing, Jack," Bill raised an eyebrow while the two got to their feet.

"I was just thinking, 'tis all," Jack shrugged.

"Oh? What about?"

"Is this a new game? Is it called Ask-Jack-Everything-under-the-sun?"

"No, technically, it's called _Twenty Questions_," Bill replied. Jack snorted and continued on to his cabin. Bill followed.

"So," Jack grabbed a bottle of rum from a desk drawer and handed it to Bill before taking one for himself, "What is up with the men?"

"So, it's your turn now?" Bill said.

"Probably, but to be honest, I don't know why I have the un-rowdiest crew on the face of the planet," Jack said.

"True, they have been quiet as of late,"

"No shit, so…do you have any theories?"

"Maybe they are just bored. You know how it gets," Bill shrugged.

"And what am I to do about that? A bored crew means a mutinous crew," Jack said.

Bill wondered if Jack had cottoned on to what he and Barbossa had planned out. However, Jack went on with his muttering and drinking and even though the problem was laid out as flat as the earth in front of him; Jack still had no clue.

Yet.

Which was probably the thing that made Bill go crazy in the first place!

"Look, I'll find more work for them to do, we have some painting to do," Bill volunteered.

"Good, I need to figure out the rest of the bloody coordinates any road," Jack shrugged. Bill nodded and stood, he bid Jack a good night and high tailed it out of there as slowly as he possibly could.

When he got outside, he spied Barbossa over by the helm; Bill went over to him.

"I think he may have cottoned on," Bill said quietly.

"Did he say anything definite?" Barbossa asked.

"No, but his mutterings are making me nervous," Bill replied.

"We need to move this along quickly, the men are getting quite restless and lose lips might spell trouble," Barbossa said.

"Are they all for the mutiny?" Bill asked.

"Aye,"

"Then _we_ have nothing to worry about, even if the mutiny is pushed forward by said lose lips, than all we'd need are the coordinates," Bill said.

"True," Barbossa replied with a nod of the head.

"I'm going to try again tomorrow, but if I don't get it…"

"Our deal stays the same, he won't die, all he has to do is give us the coordinates," Barbossa smirked. Bill sighed and he knew that he had gotten himself way over his head about a lot of things as of late.

Jack hadn't meant to listen in on the conversation; a mutiny? He was right! He was damn right and he was damned because of it! He stood behind the two men, saying nothing and yet he couldn't even find anything to say.

A friend had just kicked him where it hurt the most; he couldn't trust any one on the bloody ship. Now he knew why the men had been whispering behind his back! He now knew why everyone had been walking on egg shells all these past weeks.

"I guess this is what it comes too then," he said. His voice no louder than a whisper itself and yet the two ring leaders could still hear it.

"Jack…" Bill turned to try and defuse the situation.

"Don't bother," Jack said. He turned from them and returned to his cabin. Bill quickly followed him.

"Jack…I didn't mean for this to happen! It was Barbossa's idea, I just wanted to protect…"

"I don't need Protection, _William_," Jack glared. He took a piece of parchment paper and wrote several equations on it. He handed it to Bill and with a flourish he flopped down into his chair.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get good and drunk before you lot go killing men," Jack muttered.

"We ain't going to kill you," Bill said.

"Well, ye ain't got no use of me," Jack replied.

"Jack, I didn't want you to get killed over this, I made Barbossa promise me not to kill you," Bill said.

"Wonderful! Bloody wonderful!"

TBC


	3. Jack's Shanty

**Tears of Rum**

_

* * *

_How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now_  
A letter of marque came from the king  
To the scummiest vessel I've ever seen  
_God damn them all_  
__I was told we'd cruise the seas for American gold__  
__We'd fire no guns, shed no tears__  
__Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier,__  
__The last of Barrett's Privateers_

The shanty could be heard over the roll of the cannon balls about the deck. This was the sign of a mutiny, but no one raised a sword, nor pistol. There was no point since the only man who would go against them was numbered of one. Sure, the pirates knew they'd maroon their former Captain. But hearing him made their hearts even more hardened.

Bootstrap Bill was of a different mind. His heart weighed low in his stomach and made him want to go and blow chunks. Jack was getting exceptionally drunk but he would be of his right mind when he was left on any island they came across.

What really depressed Bill was the fact that Sparrow seemed rather disappointed that he wouldn't be murdered. Maybe he preferred it that way. Then he wouldn't be consumed by guilt and revenge. Maybe then his pride would actually stay intact.

_Oh Elcid Barrett cried the town  
For twenty brave men all fishermen who  
Would make for him the Antelope's crew_

_The Antelope sloop was a sickening site  
She'd list to the port and her sails in rags  
And the cook in the scuppers with the staggers and jags_

Jack Sparrow was Captain no longer. He was like that ship, the Antelope, who arrived at port in disgrace. With all of her pride stripped away, with nothing left of that dream she had set out to accomplish. Nothing was left. Nothing of value. All was gone, and never could be attained again.

_On the King's birthday we put to sea  
Ninety-one days to Montego Bay  
Pumping like madmen all the way_

_On the ninety-sixth day we sailed again  
When a great big Yankee hove in sight  
With our cracked four-pounders we made to fight_

_The Yankee lay low down with gold  
She was broad and fat and loose in stays  
But to catch her took the Antelope two whole days_

_Then at length she stood two cables away  
Our cracked four-pounders made awful din  
But with one fat ball the Yank stove us in_

_The Antelope shook and pitched on her side  
Barrett was smashed like a bowl of eggs  
And the main truck carried off both me legs_

_Now here I lay in my twenty-third year  
It's been six years since we sailed away  
And I just made Halifax yesterday_

Halifax was a good name for an island. A good name for a good man.

**THE END**

* * *

A/n -- This made me cry a little bit. I've never been able to do that before.

The shanty is called 'Barett's Buccaneres' or something of that nature. I thought it was poetic for Jack.


End file.
